Best Foodie Toy (2012)

If you like what you eat at La Casita Mexicana in Bell, why not take the chefs home? Well, not in the flesh but as cute, smiling figures in chef's garb attached to key rings. There's one for Jaime Martín del Campo and another for Ramiro Arvizu, the chefs who run the restaurant. You can tell them (the chefs and the key rings) apart by the moustaches: Arvizu's is darker. And one figure holds a chef's knife, while the other holds a spoon. These foodie toys are made of migajón, a bread-dough paste used to craft decorations in Mexico. The artisan in Tonalá who made them glammed them up with ribbons and dangles. You can buy just one, but why play favorites? Get both. They're at La Tiendita, the artesanías shop run by the same chefs, down the street from the restaurant. 4034 E. Gage Ave., Bell. (323) 773-1898, tienditamex.com.